Enslaver-class Star Destroyer
The Enslaver-class Star Destroyer began its life as a concept idea for a warship of the Galactic Empire. It was hoped that it would one day be the successor to the incredibly versatile Imperator-class Star Destroyer. It was planned to be an improvement of the Imperial Mark II design, with the terrifying addition of a miniature Death Star-like Superlaser. After the plans were stolen by Sith spies, the result was a very successful design for the Sith Empire. The ships are larger than an Imperator-class Star Destroyer, and more heavily armed, with a great emphasis on space combat over ground warfare. =History= Sith Command leapt at the opportunity presented by the Enslaver, and two Imperial-II's that were beginning production were changed in accordance to the Enslaver's plans, and a further trio began. While the superstructures began to take shape, the plans were handed over to the Sith Military Research Division to study the readouts and begin calculations for what kind of requirements the first superlaser produced would have. Unfortunately for the Sith Empire, the enormity of the project was not realized until construction was too far along to simply scrap the project. Simply stated, the Sith Empire lacked the immense technical expertise that such a project would require, not to mention the cost associated with building even a prototype superlaser, let alone miniaturizing it for use aboard a Star Destroyer. Sith High Command reluctantly admitted the fact that constructing an Enslaver per those specifications would be an impossibility. There were then left with the problem of the five ships nearing completion. The outer hull, armor, and structural supports were all in place, and construction had paused until precise details could be provided regarding the ship's interior. Designers faced a serious problem: they had four Star Destroyers with too much work done to scrap, but that couldn't be built to their original specs. They couldn't turn them into Imperial class Star Destroyers, because the extra 150 meters of length had already been added, and the Enslaver's armament surpassed even an Imperial Mark II class vessel by a fair margin. They could try and make larger Star Destroyer-class ships from the hulls, but they still had to find some purpose for the split prow design the superlaser would have necessitated. Luckily though, one of the Enslaver's designers had had an idea to alter the placement of a Star Destroyer's hangar bay for more efficient launching. He proposed that the hangar bay be moved foward into the enormous cavity which would have housed the superlaser apparatus. The wider exit port would allow more craft to be deployed in the same amount of time, not to mention how much the Enslaver's fighter complement would benefit from having the ship's extensive forward weaponry array providing covering fire. Sith Command was still disappointed about the loss of the superlaser weaponry, but reluctantly agreed to try. Taking advantage of the extra space generated by removing nearly half the troops and ground vehicles, as well as its pre-fabricated garrison and the natural enlarging of the hull, the Sith decided to install prototype shield generators that had been first developed for use on the Imperial Mark II Star Destroyers. They provide nearly twice the shield strength as the regular generators, but are hideously complex and expensive, making them uneconomical for mass-production, and the Empire dumped the project in favor of cost-cutting. The Sith however wanted a heavily armed and armored battleship that would dominate the space lanes, and were not intended to be the mainstay of fleets, like the Imperial-class. The larger generators, and secondary reactor they necessitated, fit with the Enslaver beautifully, making the Enslaver the most heavily-shielded craft short of a Super Star Destroyer, in the Sith arsenal. The prow launch bay arrangement also gave it a great advantage in terms of speed over enemy craft, for launching its fighter complement. No new Enslavers were truly built since, merely recommissioning one of the Enslavers nearly lost at the disastrous Battle of Teta for service again (the Teta's Defiance), and a second assembled out of the scrapped remains of the captured Anari Alliance battleship Judication. Nonetheless, they continued to serve as command ships for prestigious fleets, and were a symbol of Sith starship engineering. The only remaining Enslavers are in Sandian control, and the designs are to be shared with the Muir Corporation. There are, however, persistent rumours of an Enslaver being sighted somewhere east of Isen. Category:Capital ShipsCategory:Star DestroyersCategory:Command ShipsCategory:Sith Empire